


Seven Years

by Dehmer



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Childbirth Death, Failure to Cope, Gen, PTSD, Underage Drinking, Underage Smoking, War, but it gets worse before it gets better, childbirth complications, it's better than it sounds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-19
Updated: 2016-07-19
Packaged: 2018-07-25 08:35:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7525819
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dehmer/pseuds/Dehmer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I remember...when I was young....and the war was so, so distant.</p><p>Once, I was seven years old.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Seven Years

**Author's Note:**

> This work was inspired by the song Seven Years by Lukas Graham. Thank you for reading this.

_I remember...when I was young...and the war was so, so distant._

“Grillby?” my mother had called me from the kitchen. I stopped my reading in the living room and looked up. Not seeing her in the doorway, I stood up and walked over to her.

“Yes, mom?” She put down the pan on the low fire and let whatever it was cook, kneeling down in front of me. She had taken my small hands in hers and looked at me with her white eyes, frowning.

“Grillby, my dear baby boy,” my mother softly began while looking so sad. “I hate seeing you by yourself so often and I love you, you know I do.” She rubbed her thumb over one of my hands, looking down before looking at me once more. “But...you need to _go make yourself some friends or you’ll be lonely_. I won’t always be here and I would rather you had plenty of people to lean on other than me. Okay?”

“I understand mom...Tomorrow...tomorrow, can I go out?” I gave a hopeful look and tried to be positive about this. She smiled and let a little tear fall, nodding.

“Of course, my little flame.”

_I was seven then._

 

_I remember making those friends and everything we did._

Asgore, Gaster, Gerson, and I lay in a field of wild grass, the town on the horizon with the sun far above us. We were bored but at the same time completely okay with this. Just earlier we had went for a run through the tobacco field in the next town over, swiping a pipe on the way once again. As we laid there in that field we passed the pipe back and forth, slowly trying the commodity we had seen Asgore’s father enjoying. In Gaster’s bag was a glass bottle with a very small amount of ale, once more snuck away.

The four of us have known each other for at least four years now and while we could annoy each other, we always learned quick where the lines were. We pushed limits within our group but at the end, we knew where to stop. Take today for example. Gaster didn’t want to go for another run, not liking the delinquent image we were giving ourselves (but mostly the prince). Gerson and I had tried over and over convincing him until Gaster had enough. He had stormed off and after a few moments of talking, it was Gerson calmly following after our friend. Asgore came over to me and we waited on the fallen log.

Whatever Gerson had said worked as around half an hour later, they were running back with the local bartender on their heals and screaming at us to run with grins on their faces. Of course, Asgore and I ran for our young lives, laughing the entire time until we lost the bartender. Skip forward a bit and it brings us back to the field with the sun setting and our parents’ voices calling our names in the village. We stood and walked home, sharing the ale on the way and finishing it before heading our separate ways on the edge of town.

Needless to say, my step-father had some words though one thing always stood out at the end.

“Grillby, one day you’ll get old. I can only tell you this; grow up and  _go get yourself a wife or you’ll be lonely._ ”

_I was eleven then._

 

_I had dreams but..._

My morning was a peaceful one with errands on top of errands for my mother on my metaphorical plate. Daydreaming as I went, I picked up orders, checked up on other ones, and quickly visited my friends. Before I knew it, Gerson, Gaster, and I were walking together, wondering just where in the world Asgore was. As we were walking and laughing, someone grabbed my arm and forced me to stop.

“Young man, why are you not gathering your things.” I turned and connected the grip and voice to the monster holding me back. My friends had stopped and turned, ready to fight. I looked at the man with confusion.

“And why would I be doing such a thing?” I had asked him.

“All men of age are to be leaving this town to prepare for war.” And just like that, my entire world was taken. Every idea of the future I had was destroyed as I had ran home to beg my mother to help me. A guard had followed me and ruined my escape. As I was dragged away from the only home I knew and all I could think was ‘I didn’t even get to say good-bye to my mother’.

_...they disappeared one day._

 

_When I came back, everyone knew my name, knew me but I felt the loneliest I ever had._

The war was a gruesome thing and life was turned to ash by my hands. I had burned thousands of villages, killed so many humans, gained so much LOVE, and yet when I returned I was hailed as a hero by my family. The only one who didn’t was...my dead mother. Killed by a human spy, she was gone a week after I had left. Guilt ate at me and still does.

The King was killed and in their place Asgore rose from Commander to King himself. Gaster was appointed the Royal Scientist, a job that payed well and was kept far from any violence. Gerson was made the Historian, the one to record every detail of monster history so it was never lost and lessons never forgotten. I was given the choice to become Captain of the Royal Guard but refused. So many had died on our side and only seventeen veteran monsters had made it to our New Home. I believed we were all more than done with aggression.

We were all praised. My three friends became strangers as we all lost touch, even Gaster and Asgore. We didn’t know each other any more though I had wished it wasn’t the case. Nightmares plagued my sleep, forcing me awake. In the day, praises of my ‘valor’ during the war kept me from forgetting. I felt like a murderer. It became too much and I left, moving to Snowdin and buying an establishment with part of my war rewards.

I still felt as if I should have my flame go out.

_I was twenty then._

 

_I met my wife and had my child but was once more alone._

Business was good. I had my regulars and they more than kept the bar going, they also kept me going. Having something to not only wake up for but look forward to was a blessing not many understood. No longer did I stay inside, afraid of everyone’s praise but instead I was nearly always doing something in a town where no one knew who I was, only of my name but even then they never connected it to me. I was happy.

Then my life changed once more as someone new walked in. The cold gave everyone a slight shiver as they opened the door and came inside. With a slam, the door closed and everyone gave this newcomer a look-over, all wondering if they would cause trouble. Obviously, many were satisfied as the chatter rose to normal levels but I could not relax. This was my bar. It was obvious they were not from Snowdin and I worried even after all this time if someone would recognize me.

They sat at the bar, looked at me, gave me a smile, and said, “I’d like a water for now, please.”

It was the start of something great. I soon found out she had recently bought the house down the street from here. She came just about everyday and I got to know her more and more. Soon, she was moving out of that same house, up to my apartment above the bar, and becoming my wife. Life was great. We were happy and she gave me something even more to look forward to.

A family.

She was pregnant and we were ecstatic. A little scared at the prospect of twins but happy all the same. Together we shopped for our unborn children, finally finding use of the rooms upstairs. Within time we had found out it was to be a little boy and girl. Of course, they would each share a room until they grew a bit older. Then the day came and a doctor was rushed to our house. We couldn’t wait to meet our children only….only my darling wife never got to.

She along with our son died during the birth. As the light left her eyes, the final child -our son- was born only for him to never make a single cry or ever breathe. She gave her last breath right as our daughter was brought back in.

After that...I tried raising my daughter, I really did but it soon became clear I couldn’t. I was depressed and without the support of my wife, I regressed to who I was before, a man consumed by guilt and my past. I called my sister-in-law and arrangements were made. She became my daughter’s legal guardian and once again, I was alone and at my worst.

_I was thirty then._

 

_I wanted to change things, make it so I had no regrets._

The final human was the one everyone praised as monsters finally were able to see the surface. By then, I was thousands of years old and better than I was before. I had met many new people and even found someone to love though they did not know. Years had passed without my knowledge and I had regrets that the sunlight seemed to show me after so long. There were monsters I had forgotten.

I wrote letters to Asgore and Gerson, asking for us all to meet like the friends we used to be. Within a day, they had both turned up at my bar by surprise and that evening was one I loved the most. I had closed the bar early and we had the area to ourselves. We talked, we laughed, we reminisced. We all caught up with each other and I let a single fact slip. It led me to my two friends urging me to tell my newfound love before the chance left me. That night, after they had both left (quite drunk), I wrote my third letter within twenty-four hours. It was more of a message than a letter really.

Eight days passed before I was given my response in the form of a kiss right in the middle of the farmer’s market. It was slow going but after two years, Sans and I moved in together while Papyrus and Mettaton were quite happy in their own home. Ten years later and we became husbands.

I was now a bartender and my Husband was the new Royal Scientist after Alphys gave up the position to teach instead.

_I had found my happiness._

 

_I’m older than can be now and am at peace with my past._

“Sans, you are amazing,” I said with an arm around said monster. He grinned up at me and looked back over at Gaster talking with Asgore, Gerson, and Toriel.

“I wanted him back, that’s all,” he said. I frowned with exasperation.

“Do not belittle what you have accomplished. You brought back a man who was thought to be dead and figured out just how he stayed alive. Not only that, you found a way for all monsters to use the Void. You are amazing.”

“And I hope I’m amazing enough to stay with you.” I smiled at that.

“Always.”

We stood together and looked on at the celebration. It has been twenty years since the barrier was broken and monsters and humans were at peace. I remember...when I was young...and the war was so, so distant. When my mother told me ‘go make yourself some friends or you’ll be lonely’. I remember making those friends and everything we did. I remember having dreams but...they disappeared one day. I remember when I came back, everyone knew my name, knew me but I felt the loneliest I ever had. I remember meeting my wife and having my child but once more being alone. I remember wanting to change things, make it so I had no regrets. Well, I’m older than can be now and am at peace with my past. And yet, I still can’t believe that...

_Once, I was seven years old._


End file.
